Whaley/Democrat photo
Farmington's Shannon Cardinal (12) goes up for a hit during Division III action earlier this year. The Tigers advanced to the semis for the fifth straight year and will meet No. 6 Winnisquam Wednesday at Plymouth State.

DOVER — Old hat for one and something new for the other.

The No. 2 Farmington High School volleyball team (16-2) will make its fifth straight trip to the Division III semifinals on Wednesday at Plymouth State University and will take on No. 6 Winnisquam (14-4) at 5 p.m.

No. 5 Nute (15-3) is back in the semis for the first time since 2009 and will take on No. 1 and unbeaten Campbell (18-0) in the 7 p.m. nightcap. None of Nute's current players have played at Plymouth.

The championship is set for PSU Friday night at 7. If its Farmington-Nute, it will be their third championship meeting since 2008.

“It was good,” said Farmington coach of her team's 3-1 win over Portsmouth Christian in Saturday's quarterfinal. “We played two great games of volleyball. We had a let down in the third. The important thing is we got past it and played well in the fourth set.”

This is a senior-laden Tiger team, which lost in the finals last year and in the semis in 2010 (blowing a 2-0 lead to Epping). They suffered a late-season blip with losses at Winnisquam and Moultonborough to end the regular season, but appear to be back on track.

“We're in a much better place than we were a week ago,” Kuehl said. “We've gotten a lot of momentum back.”

Senior all-state outside hitter Marissa Peart was sick during that week with tonsillitis. She did pick up her 500th career kill at Winnisquam (a 3-2 loss).

Two days later, senior setter Kasey Memmolo crested the 1,000 career assist mark in a 3-0 setback at defending champion Moultonborough.

Winnisquam upended No. 3 Moultonborough (15-3) in the quarters in five tight games, including three that went into overtime.

“We're back to the place that works for us and where we can be successful,” said Kuehl, whose team beat Winnisquam in their first meeting on Sept. 5, 3-0.

The loss to Winnisquam on Oct. 17 was Farmington's first after a 14-0 start.

“We're healthy, we've had a couple days to rest, so we should be fine,” Kuehl added.

In the win over PCA, Peart was her old self with 24 kills and 22 digs. Memmolo added 52 assists and 11 digs, while Kelsey Gregoire had a strong match with nine kills and two blocks. Freshman Emily Squires chipped in with 10 kills and three aces.

The two other seniors are outside hitter Kayla Squires and middle hitter Shannon Cardinal.

Winnisquam senior Elyssa Clairmont picked up her 1,000th career assist in the win over Farmington. Hannah Chapin, Mo Raymond and Bailey Long are three of the team's top hitters

Clairmont had 38 assists and eight kills in the win over Moultonborough, while Chapin added 15 kills.

Last year, Winnisquam, champion in 2010, was the top seed and fell in the semis to Moultonborough.

“We proved that we can play with them by beating them,” said Winnisquam coach Mike Livernois. “Now I'm looking forward to see how we do against them on the big stage.”

With its five seniors and tough tournament losses in 2010 and 2011, the Tigers feel they have some unfinished business.

“It's in the back of their mind,” Kuehl added. “It's not easy to get back to the championship. But they've picked it up and are very focused.”

Kuehl said the Tigers need to serve receive well, which it did not against Winnisquam.

“Our defense wasn't as good as it can be,” she said. “We've been working on that. We need to receive and to continue to serve aggressively.”

While Nute is entering a whole new stratosphere with its current team, head coach Kristin Wilson and her assistants, Caitlin Wilson and Tayla Bourque, know all about playing at Plymouth. The three played at different times for the Rams during their three-peat run from 2006 to 2008.

“Hopefully we can bring a little bit of knowledge to that,” said Kristin Wilson.

The Rams, with just one senior on board, advanced with 3-0 wins over No. 12 Trinity and No. 4 Hillsboro-Deering.

Campbell moved on in similar fashion past No. 15 Wilton-Lyndeborough and No. 8 Mascenic. Against Mascenic, Jayla Brennen led the Cougars with 19 kills and 15 digs, while Jenelle Psaledas had 31 assists, and Brianna Hardy chipped in with eight kills and eight digs.

The only teams the two have in common are Nute's playoff victims. While the Rams swept both, Campbell beat Trinity twice by a 3-1 count, and beat Hillsboro, 3-0, 3-1. The two did play last year with Nute claiming a 3-1 win.

“We had a great match on Saturday,” Wilson said. “Hillsboro had some fantastic players. They played much tougher than we anticipated. We really jelled, more so than any other time this season. We've been harping on talking more on the court. We saw a complete turnaround with that. I couldn't believe it.”